Batgirl Beyond
by VeemonRemix
Summary: Melanie Walker, formerly Ten, finds herself in financial trouble. After battling the "Ten" inside of her, she sees a new persona that she can turn herself into. Meanwhile her father, King, and an old enemy plot a way to finally get rid of Batman forever.
1. Crisis

**Hi guys! Okay, so I know that I haven't really done a Batman Beyond story before, but I thought this was a pretty cool idea, so here's me giving it a shot, haha. Plus, Batman Beyond is one of my favorite cartoon series' so I know a lot about the story. (And for those of you who care, I'm still doing the Digimon series so don't worry, this is just a little thing that I had in mind. The next episode thingy of Digimon is actually like, 95 pecent done, and it's taking forever only because there's so much freaking action in this chapter! So thanks for your patience!) But thanks for reading this, and I hope you guys all like it!**

-x-

A giant sign read "Gotham General Penitentiary". There were hundreds of jail cells inside, most of which were always full. It wasn't very sanitary inside, but then again, neither were most prisons in the area. A guard walked up to a cell and scanned his I.D. The cell door automatically slid open. The guard yelled one word.

"Lunch!"

A well built older looking man in an orange jumpsuit was laying on the bed. He turned his head. The man in the jumpsuit was revealed to be King of the Royal flush gang. Except now, he wasn't wearing any flashy armor. He wasn't even wearing his distinguished eyeglass. All he had on his face was a pair of small glasses.

"Must I go now?"

The guard spoke.

"Either you go this instant or I lock this door and leave you to starve till night. Your choice"

Later, King was seen with a tray half full of food. He was looking for a place to sit, but noticed that most of the seats were already taken by other inmates. There were armed guards all over the room, so he wouldn't dare attempt to take it back to his cell. He sat at the first open seat he could find. He sat across from a young looking guy with black hair. For some reason, this guy had an electronic earpiece on his right ear. He was wolfing down his entire meal. King tried to ignore him and began eating slowly.

"That's nothing"

King looked up. The young guy said it.

"I beg your pardon?" King asked

"Your lunch. That's nothing."

"Well I'm not hungry"

"It doesn't matter whether you're hungry or not. The food here might taste like garbage, but if you wanna keep a good figure, you gotta eat a lot of whatever they give you, and then work it out in the gym. Someone at your old age can lose a lot of muscle real quick by not eating enough."

"You'll have to forgive me, but I don't take advice from children."

"Who's the child? I got transferred outta Juvi like, six months ago."

King didn't respond. He didn't feel like entertaining the kid's foolishness. The kid spoke again.

"So, what are ya in for?"

"I don't think I need to tell you."

King picked up his tray. He was ready to get up and find another table. This kid was already annoying the heck out of him.

"You're right!"

"What?"

"It doesn't matter what we're in for. It's who. And for us, it's always the same answer."

"I highly doubt that you have the slightest idea why I'm here, so be quiet"

The boy laughed

"It was the bat wasn't it?"

King didn't respond

"It's okay, we're all embarrassed by it. You see, smart guys like us who have a lot of potential to go places…we wind up in here because somehow that bat is always in the right place at the right time."

"My own daughter. She betrayed us all because of him!"

He slammed the table. Several of the guards looked at him. He sat still. They boy laughed again. He whispered.

"I watch the news old man. And I know who you are. You're the King of the notorious royal flush gang, right? Well, were the king I should say. But bad old batman came and ruined it all. I have losses cause of him too, but there is one gift he gave me. In my first run in with him, he gave me powers beyond my imagination. Nevertheless, he's still the reason why I'm here too. You want him gone?"

King slowly nodded his head

"Nothing would make me happier than to see him out of the deck. Permanently"

"Careful, now you're starting to sound like hundreds of other rookies. You see, countless guys have wanted to see Batman gone since they day he started roaming the streets of Gotham. Even this new Batman who's been around recently's been causing problems. But you know why none of them have ever succeeded? Because they don't use what's up here."

He pointed to his head

"From what I hear, you have a lot of skills old man. And I think that me and you, we can do a lot together."

"You're overlooking the fact that we're in prison." King said sarcastically

"What, this place? It's nothing. I can bust us out. Easily. But I need you to help me out."

"Help you with what?"

He pointed at his earpiece

"You're good with gadgets and micro machinery right?"

"My kids were always better at those things. Specifically my daughter"

"This is an advancement in the technology that they used to suppress my powers. If I try to take it out, then the guards know. But someone as experienced as you would know how to disarm something like it, right?"

"I can try…"

"If you can find a way to get this thing off of me, then I can get us out. I'll be unstoppable. And when we're out, we'll do something no one's ever come close to doing. We'll get our revenge, and we'll put that bat to rest forever."

The bell rang. The guards were shouting at everyone to return to their cells. The boy stood up.

"We'll do it tonight. At ten. You make me something that can deactivate this thing, and I'll have us out before the guards can say, 'we can't do anything to stop them."' Do we have a deal?

He held out his hand. King shook it.

"I don't even know your name…"

"Where are my manners. The name's Willie Watt."

A guard began to walk up to the two of them. Willie turned around and smiled.

"See you tonight"

-x-

Jack Walker dropped a letter and slammed his fist on the table. He swore very loudly. Melanie quickly rushed into the room. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"My last request was just denied." He stood up. "It's official, I lost the job."

Melanie looked disappointed. "I'm sorry."

"Easy for you to say, isn't it?"

"Jack, just calm down. It's okay."

Jack turned around and faced her

"No Melanie, it's not okay! We live in the most rundown apartment in Gotham City! And even here we can't keep rent up! It's only a matter of time before they kick us out of here."

"I still have my job, Jack. I can work twice as long. I'll try to learn new recopies to get better tips, I'll figure out something! Don't worry!"

"No, it's still not enough. We were already in trouble when both of us had jobs there. We know they don't pay anything!"

Melanie looked at the ground. Jack rubbed his eyes

"From Riches to rags. That's what we've been reduced to." Jack said

Melanie spoke up

"We weren't getting honest money back then, Jack. And we can't keep looking back like this. The Royal Flush gang is over. Ace was destroyed, Dad's in jail…"

"Dad. He's the one to blame for all of this."

Melanie looked the other way

"You don't know badly I want him dead for what he did…" Melanie muttered "But that's not the issue now…"

Jack grabbed Melanie by the shoulders

"Don't you get it…" he said, "Dad is the reason why we're living like this. In the end, he gave us nothing. Mom gave us nothing.

Jack took his jacket and went for the door

"Where are you going?" Melanie asked

"I'm going to get some air."

"But Jack, we still need to talk!"

"No! Unless you find a way to get us some real money, then I don't want to talk to you or anyone else at all! Sister or not."

"Exactly what more do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know! Maybe if there was anyone we could talk to in this wretched town the answer to that wouldn't be so difficult!"

He slammed the door.

Melanie slowly went to her bed and sat down. She buried her face in her hands and closed her eyes. After a while she opened them and grabbed her pillow.

"Well, there was someone I was able to talk to…once"

She reached inside her pillow case and pulled out a picture of her and Terry McGinnis. She kept it there like it was one of the few things in life she cared about. They took it the day after they met. She remembered back when they first met each other. She and Terry met, and decided to meet again the next day at the same time and same place. The only problem was, that night, she was out with the royal flush gang as "Ten", her other alias. And just as their luck would have it, they had been stopped by Batman. They barely escaped, but she ended up being almost an hour late for their date. She went to the spot as quickly as she could, almost certain that Terry had left. But to her surprise, Terry had just gotten there as well. They had spent the whole night together, and took this picture right before the sun came up. But now, for some reason, Terry no longer wanted anything to do with her. She once gave Batman a note to deliver to him, and he never responded. From then on, she hadn't heard anything from him.

"Terry probably doesn't even know who I am anymore. But I suppose it's worth a shot."

She put on a sweater and left

-x-

Dana Tan took out a large bowl of popcorn from the microwave. Terry was sitting on his couch in front of the TV. Dana smiled

"This is your house, McGinnis, don't you think you should be the one getting the popcorn?"

"I put it in the microwave!" Terry exclaimed "Wouldn't wanna make things too easy for you, would I?"

Dana smiled, sat on the couch and cuddled next to him

"Some manners you have…"

Terry smiled and put his arm around her and picked up the remote control

"So what are we watching?" Terry asked

The doorbell rang. Terry gave Dana the remote and got up.

"I'll get that. How about you pick something instead?"

" Alright Terry, but you know that I'll just turn on a chick flick"

Terry laughed and answered the door. To his complete shock, Melanie was standing there.

"Melanie?"

"Hey Terry"

He quickly looked behind to see if Dana was looking and walked outside and half closed the door

"You shouldn't be here."

"I know, and I wouldn't be if I didn't really need to talk to you. It's my brother. And everything else. It's all crumbling apart. We have no money anymore."

Terry folded his arms

"So you're basically asking me for some fast cash?"

She hung her head

"I really wish I didn't have to"

Terry shook his head

"Look Melanie, I'm sorry. But you're not a part of my life anymore, and I don't see why I have to do that."

"But Terry…"

"The last thing I need to do is go down this road with you again. How do I know I'm not gonna end up in jail for helping out a criminal?"

"My days as Ten are over, Terry! I thought you understood that!"

"It's not just that. Look, I'm with someone else, okay? It's my fault, I should have told you earlier, but it's true."

"I'm asking you as a friend, nothing more!"

Dana yelled from inside

"McGinnis, the movie's starting!"

Terry made eye contact with Melanie

"I can't talk to you. I have to go"

He opened the door

"Terry, please…"

"I'm sorry Mel, but…but I just can't care about you anymore. Sorry."

He closed the door.

"I didn't expect you to."

She put her hands in her sweater pockets and walked away. From the window, Terry watched her go.

"Who was at the door?" Dana asked

Terry took one last look and turned back to the TV.

"No one."

Melanie ran down the street. Eventually, she winded up back at her apartment. She was staring at her closet. She remembered when Jack yelled,

"In the end, Dad gave us nothing! Mom gave us nothing!"

"If there was one thing that mom or dad ever gave us…"

She pushed some of her clothes out of the way. Hanging in the very back, was a suit that she never wanted to see again. The Ten Suit.

"It was the ability to get money when we needed it"

The Ten suit was black on one half and white on the other. A mask would cover her entire face. She hesitated for a second. She hadn't put this suit on in a long time. And she didn't to. The only reason why she kept it was if an emergency situation ever came up. But that didn't mean she ever wanted to have to use it. That suit turned her into a criminal. It represented a life that she desperately wanted to leave behind. It scared her every time she looked at it. It reminded her of the Royal Flush gang, which was a memory that made her uncomfortable. But more than that, it reminded her of her Dad, who she absolutely hated. Melanie looked at the empty, form fitting suit once more.

"I have no choice. It has to be this way"

She took it off the rack.

-x-


	2. Bandit

9:58 PM. Willie repeatedly pressed the emergency call button on his jail cell door. Soon, a guard showed up. He examined Willie and then screamed at him

"What the heck is your problem? You look fine!"

"But I'm not" Willie said

"You know the rules. If you dare give us a false alarm, we'll shut your call button off forever."

"But I told you I'm not" Willie insisted

"Then what's the emergency?"

"Look, my toilet completely broke down. It's not flushing right…"

Willie had sabotaged it earlier when no one was looking

The guard tried to look inside his cell

"You can come in and take a look if you want…" Willie said

"No. First of all, that's gross. Second of all, I'm not walking for a second with you behind my back."

"Then can you please take me to another one? I really gotta go! You can escort me and I'll only be a second"

The guard stared for a second. He swiped his key card on Willie's door and it opened.

"Get out."

Willie walked out. Immediately the guard pointed a gun at his back.

"I know your ways, Watt, so don't try anything stupid."

"Why would I?"

They were walking down the hall. Willie looked out of the corner of his eye. He was timing this perfectly. King's guard was about to finish locking him into his cell. Willie stopped walking.

"Move!" The guard shouted

"I need to say something!"

"What is it, then?"

"For a prison, your security really sucks"

It was a split second before Willie elbowed the guard in the chest, and then turned around and hit the guard in the face. He punched him one more time and knocked him unconscious. The other guard who had just locked King in was reaching for his gun. Willie dove straight for him and tackled him to the ground. He knocked him unconscious as well and ripped the key card off of his neck. The alarm sounded.

"Do you have it?" Willie said

King ran to the back of his room and pulled out a small, handmade screw that consisted of the springs from his bed and a couple other metals he found laying around. Willie took it and attached it to his earpiece. It hurt a lot to try and jam it out. He pulled it loose a little bit. Then he suddenly heard….

"Freeze!"

He looked around him. There had to be about ten armed guards on both of his sides ready to shoot him dead. Willie dropped the device and put his hands up.

"Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head"

Willie complied. One guard walked up to him with a pair of handcuffs.

"You're gonna pay big time for this, Watt. You'll get at least ten to twenty years added on your sentence."

Watt smiled

"That's funny. 'Cause I actually plan to get out of here in ten to twenty seconds"

"And how do you plan to do…"

The guard flew back and his head ran into the far wall.

Willie stood up and smiled.

"Fire! Now!"

They tried shooting him, but all the bullets stopped in mid air. He turned all the bullets back on the guards. Then, he made King's door explode open. Wilie smiled and spoke

"You let us leave, and you guys don't get shot by ten to twenty bullets."

The guards were so scared. They dropped their weapons.

"Good boys."

He flung them all to opposite sides of the room and knocked them all out. He dropped the bullets on the ground. King walked out.

"So you have psychokinetic powers?" King asked.

"Yeah, you could say that. Luckily I got the thing loose enough to get it to work. Come on, let's bail."

The top of the jail exploded. Willie floated out and King floated right behind him.

"We have to get back on the ground. I've already arranged a ride out of here" King said

"Arranged a ride? I can move you wherever you want. We don't need a ride!"

"If someone sees two guys flying over their home, I'm sure their first reaction would be to call the police."

"Fine." Willie spat, "So where?"

"Right here, actually" King said.

They made it to the ground and landed on a sidewalk. A black car's door opened. Willie got in the back and King got in the passenger's seat. In the driver's seat was a blonde female, and also, King's Mistress. Sable Thorpe.

"How are you darling?" He leaned over to kiss her. Willie grabbed his head in anger.

"Can we move the car?"

She stepped on the gas. It wasn't long before police were following them.

"Give me one second." Sable said. She reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a gun. She turned around and shot the cop car a couple times. One of the cars swerved off of the road.

"May I please?" Willie said annoyingly

"Do it" King said

Soon, the road behind them exploded, most of the cop cars fell right inside. One was able to stop in time, and Willie simply flung that one off of the road. He turned around

"That's one way to do it" King said.

Their car sped off

-x-

10:40 PM. In the corner of the street stood the second most expensive restaurant in all of Gotham City. It was going to close soon, so surely, now would be the time when a lot of people would be beginning to leave. Hiding in the shadows next to the building stood Melanie in the Ten suit. She held something that resembled a typical playing card. But this card, when released, would turn from a benign Ten of Hearts to a razor sharp blade. She had several more in her pockets. Ten slowly looked through the window of the restaurant. A well groomed man and overly flamboyant wife were about to walk out of the restaurant. Ten rushed to the front of the restaurant. She held the card in her hand, ready to throw it. However, she froze for a second and thought out loud.

"Can I really do this?"

She took a look at the card

"Maybe I….no. I can't leave. If I don't do this for myself, no one else will care enough to help. Then again, if Terry's ever gonna care about me again, then I can't do this…maybe there's another way…"

Her train of thought was interrupted by a scream. She looked up. The couple had walked out of the restaurant and seen her. They both took off running.

"There is no other way. I have to chase them."

She ran after them. Her athletic skills greatly outdid theirs. Every time they would try to knock over a garbage can or something else to obstruct her, she would somersault over it and run faster. She was already catching up to them.

Terry McGinnis in the Batman suit was flying the batmobile. He was talking to Mr. Wayne on the intercom.

"Looks like the night's pretty slow. I think the criminals are finally beginning to fear you too much to come out at night." Bruce Wayne said

"Yeah…" Batman moaned back

"Alright McGinnis, what's your problem?"

"What? It's nothing. I don't have a problem."

Bruce didn't respond. Batman sighed.

"It's just that…"

"Yes?"

"Melanie showed up today"

"You mean Ten. Terry, don't even think about getting back together with her. She's not good company."

"That's what I told her, but still, I felt kinda bad for the way I put it."

"explain…"

"I basically told her to get out of my life"

"Good. Now you're starting to talk like Batman."

"But I feel bad about it. She didn't seem like she wanted to hurt anyone anymore. In fact, the reason she came was because she and her brother were in a lot of financial trouble because they're trying to live honestly now."

Bruce was sitting in front of the giant computer. He was talking to Batman through it.

"Like I said McGinnis, you did the right thing by ignoring her. Take it from me, kid. This is a ride that's not worth going on. "

"Wayne, look in my backpack."

Bruce looked under the table. Terry's backpack was right there.

"Look in the second lowest pouch on the left. It's under all the CDs." Terry instructed.

Bruce did as he said. He pulled out a small, folded photograph.

"You got it?"

"Yeah…"

"Now open it up."

He did so. It was a picture of Terry and Melanie. It was the same one that she kept under her pillow.

"It's a picture of you two…"Bruce said

"So you see why I can't just ignore her? She was there for me when I broke up with Dana, and I thought that my world was going to end. This isn't a ride for her, Mr. Wayne, it's her life. Maybe she really has changed. Maybe she…"

He suddenly stopped talking. Bruce Wayne spoke

"McGinnis? McGinnis!"

The scene went back to Terry flying the batmobile.

"Hey Bruce, remember all those nice things I just said about Melanie?"

"Um, yeah."

"I take it all back"

He could see Ten chasing a couple through the streets. She threw several razor sharp cards to try and stop them, and was catching up.

The two people were growing tired. The man accidently tripped and landed on the ground. The woman had stopped in his tracks. Ten finally caught up to them both.

"I can keep this up all night if I have to. So let's just see the creds."

"Okay, look. Here they are." The woman held out her purse.

Ten wound back to throw a card and break the strap. She threw it, but it never made it to the bag. A batarang caught it in mid course and deflected it.

"Oh no…" Ten whispered

Batman jumped down and tackled Ten to the ground.

"You two, get out now!"

The couple got up and ran one last time. Batman held Ten to the ground.

"Batman, listen…"

Batman let go of her

"No!" Batman yelled. "I'm done listening to you."

"I know how bad this looks right now, but I…I promise I won't do this again. I wasn't even going to do it again, this would have been the last time! It's just…it's just"

"Save it for the police!" Batman yelled "I'm taking you in!"

"No! Please, you can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm one of the good guys now! I promise!"

"The good guys don't steal from innocent people"

"I know, but, it's just in my blood to steal, and I guess I didn't think it through"

"I don't need to be listening to this. I should take you to jail right now where crooks like you belong"

"Well what about you!" Ten finally yelled. "You don't follow every law either, do you?"

"That's because I AM one of the good guys. And you're nothing more than a common criminal."

Batman turned around

"I can't believe I ever thought anything different." He said quieter

"Batman, please…" Ten pleaded. "I need you to understand. I'm not the same person that you met in the royal flush gang."

Batman turned back around and faced her

"I've changed now. I'm a different girl…"

Batman paused for a second, and slowly said one last thing.

"No you're not."

He flew off. He went back into his Batmobile and it flew away.

Ten was holding back tears. She turned around began to run back home.

-x-

Batman angrily pounded his fist down on the Batmobile's dashboard.

"Rough night?"

"I don't wanna hear it Wayne."

"Well then hear this. There's a distress call just a couple kilometers north of you. It looks to me like someone took a hostage. That should take your mind off of your little friend."

"yeah, okay."

Soon he arrived at an empty, six story building.

"This place looks okay to me…" Batman said. As if on demand, Batman heard a scream.

"Nevermind."

He got out of the batmobile and flew up in the direction of the scream. He eventually landed on the top of the building. There was a girl who was blindfolded and tied up by the hands. She was facing away from Batman. She was still screaming for help. Batman ran over there. Bruce, who was watching through Batman's suit, noticed something.

"Wait a minute." He said. "The knot on her hands looks too loose. No one would be tied up with… TERRY!"

Batman flipped the woman over.

"Calm down. You're safe now…"

To his surprise, it was Sable Thorpe. Inside her mouth was a small device. She spat it out at Batman, who tried to block with his arm. But that's what she was hoping he would do. It quickly clinged onto his suit and sent a shock through his entire body. Batman screamed.

"Terry!"

He lost all connection. All Bruce could see was static.

Sable stood up and let go of the rope around her hands, and took off the blindfold. Soon the shocking stopped, and Batman tried to fight her. He tried to throw a punch, and Sable simply grabbed onto his arm. Batman tried to break free, but couldn't. Sable punched him in the face, spun him around and then kicked him in the jaw.

"We've figured something out about you Batman…" Sable said. Batman was grabbed from behind, and then thrown across the roof. It hurt a lot. He turned around and, to his surprise, could see King in full armor next to Sable. King walked up to him.

"You're not what makes the suit…"

Batman tried to get up and turn invisible. He pressed the switch on his belt, but nothing happened. He even tried to fly towards them, and that didn't work either. While he was distracted, King knocked him over again, and then kicked him in the stomach.

"The suit is what makes you. Without its power…you're no stronger or faster than your average teenage punk."

Batman had never felt so weak. King grabbed him by the suit and held him over the top of the building.

"Time to scratch one bat…"

Luckily, Batman managed to get a batarang into his hand. He threw it at King's armor for a distraction, and then kneed him in the spleen. For a second King let go of him and Batman ran away. He tried to pry the device off of his arm, but an extremely fast Sable soon punched him once again. Batman was able to dodge a second punch, and pushed Sable to the ground. He turned around and hit King in the face, but he barely flinched. Batman used all of his strength to try and take him down, but it was no good. Batman felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and to his complete shock, he saw Willie Watt.

"Sweet dreams Batman."

Willie ducked, and a small tree hit Batman square in the face. He was completely knocked out. Willie, King and Sable surrounded an unconscious Batman.

"Déjà vu much?" Willie said sarcastically

"So what are we going to do with him?" Sable asked. King pointed his sword at Batman's neck.

"We could kill him now…" King said

"We SHOULD kill him now" Willie insisted. "If we hesitate, then there will be room for mistakes."

"Like what? It's not like anyone can help him now" King said

"What exactly do you want to do with him" Willy said. It was obvious that he was growing very annoyed

"In a game of cards, you never give up your strongest card first. You have to see how much you can get with your weaker cards before you trump everyone with your strong suit"

"What the heck are you blabbering about, old man?" Wilile said

"If we kill him now, it will be over. But I'm thinking, what if we held him for ransom. This city isn't much without its hero. To them, he could be very valuable. Do you know how many people would bid to get him back?"

"So what are we gonna do? Let him go when someone pays us enough? That's stupid! We'll be right back at square one"

"No. We kill him anyway. In the end. First, we can see how much we can get off of him, and then we off him anyway. We'll keep him in this building." King insisted.

"What if he breaks free?" Willie asked

"Don't worry" Sable interjected. "The device I put on him won't come off easily. It fried his suit entirely. No one, not even he, can pry it off with his own strength. And even if he did, it wouldn't do him much good. His suit's mere fabric now. All electronic features are forever dead." Sable explained. Willie cocked his eyebrow.

"She thinks of everything." King said "Much more efficient than my old, useless wife."

"Well if there's no crazy security feature on this…why not take a look at who's really behind the mask." Willie said.

"Allow me." King insisted

He leaned over to pull the mask off. Suddenly, gas sprayed out of it. King quickly stepped back as his eyes began to burn. He began to yell.

"My guess is that's not an electronic feature." Sable said

"Forget it! Just get him inside!"

Willie and Sable picked him up and dragged him to the door on top of the roof. King looked the unconscious Batman in the eye.

"Today, you're finally going to pay for what you did to me and my family Batman. And soon, my daughter will be able to look up to me once again as a leader without having to live in fear of you…Let's take him in."

The three of them opened the door and dragged Batman in. They locked the door behind them.


	3. Lineage

Ten swung open the door to her apartment. The T.V. was already on, which probably meant that Jack came and left. She closed it behind her and quickly took off the mask. She dropped it on the ground and jumped onto her bed. She screamed into her pillow in frustration. She looked up, only to see a small portrait of her family staring back at her. She slowly got up, made her way to it, and held the portrait in her hand. She looked at a young picture of the four of them. She focused on herself, and then her mom. Then she focused on the eyes of her dad, King. She stared at it for a second. Then she smashed it onto the ground and shattered the case.

"I HATE YOU!"

She stepped on the picture and tried to smother the face of her dad

"All of this is YOUR fault! You're the reason why I have this horrible life!"

She stopped and sobbed for a moment. She picked up the picture again and stared into what remained of her Dad's face.

"Hear this Dad. I swear. You're going to pay for what you did to me and this family. I'll make you pay with your life."

Suddenly, something that was playing on T.V. caught her ear. She looked at the monitor. The headline "BATMAN MISSING" flashed across the entire top of the screen.

"Batman?"

She dropped the portrait and turned up the volume. The reporter was in the middle of his sentence

"…Police Commissioner Barbra Gordon, who was the only one contacted about the issue. She had this to say when questioned further."

Barbra Gordon appeared on the screen and was in front of several news reporters. She spoke loudly.

"The rumors are true. I was the only one who was contacted by Batman's kidnappers, and I was specifically instructed not to do or say anything but this…"

-x-

There was a flashback to the phone call Gordon had gotten a little earlier. She picked up the phone.

"Commissioner Gordon."

"Nice evening, isn't it miss Gordon…" Willie's voice was on the other line

"Who are you and why are you calling this line?"

"Woah, woah. No need to get frisky."

"I'm dropping the line now. Don't call back."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Because if you did that, then you may never even know the location where your city's Dark Knight died…"

"Batman?"

"We have him with us. His suit is one hundred percent disabled, which means that he won't be flying anywhere anytime soon. He's very vulnerable right now. And we'll kill him now unless you do exactly as we say. You're Gotham City's commissioner, which means that you should have a good idea on who the richest people in town are. I'm about to give you the address of where he is. Now, the one and only thing that you're going to do with that information is this. You'll declare Batman missing, and use your power to order Gotham's richest people to give us a generous donation. If we're satisfied with the amount, then we'll give Batman back. Plain and simple."

"I don't know who you are, but let me tell you, I refuse to abuse my power like that"

"You don't have much of a choice. Your city isn't anything without its dark knight. So unless you want to see your precious city's crime rates to spike up, you'll do as I say."

Barbra closed her eyes. She opened them a moment later.

"Give me the address"

"Now listen closely. If we see one cop, one person who's not you anywhere near here, we kill Batman right away. And believe me, I could make his heart stop beating if I focused hard enough."

Now she recognized the voice. It took her a while, but now she remembered that she led an investigation against this particular person. Willie Watt.

"You actually expect me to believe any of this? That you have Batman."

"Believe what you want Comimsh. If you wanna take chances with this then it's fine with me. So since you don't want the address then I'll just drop the phone and finish Batman now. Unless, we have a deal that is…"

"Fine. Give me the address."

-x—

Barbra Gordon spoke up

"He's being held for ransom. In a few hours we'll be holding a bid. And whoever is the biggest bidder has to give the money to me, and I can get it to his kidnappers. Batman will be set free once that happens. That is all."

The Commissioner turned around and walked inside the building. Roars of disbelief emerged from the small crowd that was there. Questions such as "where is he being held?" and "is it right to give into terrorists?" were repeated several times. Some reporters tried to follow her in, but the police officers stopped them.

Melanie could not believe what she had just heard. The news reporter appeared on the screen again.

"The commissioner has released no information on who the actual kidnappers are, but the public already has its suspicions. Earlier today, two convicts escaped from prison, one was identified as William Watt, who had just been transferred to Gotham General, and the other one was the notorious Mr. Walker, better known as King of the Royal Flush gang."

Melanie couldn't move. She dropped the remote and the back cracked off. With bitter disgust in her voice she said

"Dad…"

"Many citizens already fear that if these are, in fact, Batman's kidnappers, that Batman may have finally met his end. This is Kevin Carr, Gotham City news."

"So it looks like Batman's finally met his match"

The voice came from behind Melanie. She turned around. Jack was standing there.

"And what do you know. It turned out to be Dad." Jack said

Melanie quickly realized that she was still wearing the Ten suit in front of him. She tried to quickly leave and go change, but obviously, it was useless.

"I came back cause I forgot my jacket. And don't worry…" Jack said, "They're your true colors. They're both of our true colors. We can't change who we are. Dad decided our fates."

He picked up his jacket from the other side of the room. He went for the door.

Jack muttered one last thing before he left the room. "I'd give anything to be able to decide his…"

He shut the door. Melanie stood there motionless for a moment.

"So would I. And Batman…Batman must have gone missing right after stopping me." She pulled out a card from her suit pocket and twirled it in her hand.

"Maybe if I wasn't there, none of this would have happened." She took a closer look at her card. She closed her eyes and quickly recalled how Batman deflected her card from before with his Batarang. She quickly opened them

"Wait a minute…"

She played the scene out in her head again.

"That's it. If I can get a hold of that thing, then maybe…"

She didn't hesitate any longer. She knelt down and picked up her mask.

-x-

Barbra Gordon, who was accompanied by two security guards walked up to a locked door. She took a key card out of her coat pocket and swiped it. The door unlocked.

"Just stay out here." She said bluntly

"But Commisoner, for your own safety we should stay with you…"

She turned and looked the guard in the eye.

"And for your own job, I suggest you do as I say. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes maam."

She turned back around and opened the door. She went into her office and closed the door behind her. She turned the light on only to see someone else sitting in her chair. Luckily for her though, it wasn't an enemy. It was Bruce Wayne.

"That was unsafe." Bruce said calmly. "For all you know there could be an armed terrorist sitting where I am right now."

Barbra didn't even act surprised. She would've asked how he even got in there, but decided against it. It didn't matter. When Bruce wanted to get in somewhere, he got in. That's something that had never changed since his younger years.

" I don't have time for your lectures, Bruce. I've got enough trouble sitting on my plate as it is. The last thing I want is for my security guards to be following me around like hounds everywhere, poking their noses into business that isn't even theirs. Of course…it looks like you've already got that position covered for them. Don't you have a basement to sit in all day, Bruce?"

"I think you and I both know why I had to pay you a personal visit"

"I'm not telling you where they're keeping him."

"You must be joking. You of all people are going to conform to terrorist demands?"

"It's not conforming, Bruce, it's called playing it safe until I think of a good way to get him out. If I told you where he was at, you'd run in there and get yourself and Batman killed."

"You've handled people like this hundreds of times before, what's so different now?"

"The fact that Batman's suit is completely disabled, and Willie Watt is the one keeping him captive."

"Watt? You mean that kid with the psychokinetic powers."

"He may be a kid, but he's very dangerous. One thought and Batman could be dead. If he's really teamed up with King from the Royal Flush gang, and Batman really has no way of escaping there, then this could be bigger than anything that Batman's fought before. That's why I need to think this over. Alone."

"So what exactly are you planning to do? Give him the money and teach the criminals of Gotham that they own the city?"

"I'm not ruling that out."

Bruce scowled

"A decision made out of fear is never the right one. Batgirl understood that. Once…"

"Batgirl is gone now. And as surprising as this may sound to you, Bruce, I don't want to face that life anymore. I have better things to worry about now, like my job. So if you'll excuse me, I'm giving you a police order to get out."

"You're better than this, Barbra"

"I said out! I'm calling security."

She pointed towards the door. Bruce slowly got up and walked out the door. He stopped right before he exited the door way and turned his head.

"I don't think Batgirl's the one who you can't face"

He shut the door behind him.

-x-

Wayne Manor. It was completely dark inside. A strip of light hit the floor from above. Then, it went dark again. A fully suited Ten hit the ground. She had just snuck in from the top window.

"There has to be something here that can trace me back to…"

All of the sudden, loud barking roared from behind her. She turned around, and Bruce Wayne's black dog Ace was preparing to attack her. Ten stepped back. Ace barked louder, and then pounced towards her. Ten reached her left hand out and sprayed a gas in front of Ace's face. Ace promptly fell to the ground and started sleeping. It was a powerful knock out gas that she never really used until now.

"That was too close"

She walked around the house for a couple minutes, looking all over. She eventually passed the grandfather clock that was against the wall in the family room.

"Maybe there's nothing here…"

She looked at the clock. It said it was already half past six.

"That can't be right."

She moved right next to it. Suddenly, the radio transmitter that she had attached to the inside of her suit went crazy. There was so much static coming in from the other side. She quickly switched it off. She looked towards the grandfather clock. There was only a wall behind it. How could she be picking up signals from a bunch of concrete?

She pulled the face of the grandfather clock. All of the sudden, the clock moved aside. She jumped back in fear. There was a long staircase leading down in front of her. She hopped down. When she was at the bottom, she looked all around. At first, she strolled through, casually looking around. Then she was running from place to place, taking a look at all of the stuff that was down there.

"Wayne, I knew you were rich but…this isn't even fair."

She walked up to the giant computer screen. After staring at it an awe, she turned around. For a moment, she thought her eyes were just deceiving her. But after staring for even longer, she realized she wasn't imagining anything. She was looking at the old Batsuit. The case held his old suit, and two other suits that she didn't recognize, and an empty case.

"Oh my goodness."

She thought for a moment

"But where's the new Batsuit?"

She looked under the table. She saw something that she thought she recognized. She knelt down and dragged it out. It was Terry's brown backpack.

"This looks just like Terry's"

She slowly opened the side pocket. She reached in and sitting right on top, was something that confused, saddened, and upset her all at the same time. It was the picture of her and Terry. The same one that she had under her pillowcase.

"This is Terry's…." She whispered. Then it clicked.

"No…it can't be…"

She looked at the other things inside his side pockets. There was a variation of small bat-shaped weapons. She felt like crying. This couldn't be happening. She did the one thing that she knew would change the way she looked at Terry forever. She opened the front pouch. She reached in and pulled out the new Batman suit. She stood up and held it out in front of her. Then, she dropped it.

"Terry's…the Batman."

She slowly turned around. Someone was standing right in front of her. She jumped back when she realized it was a scowling Bruce Wayne.

"Leave. NOW!" Bruce demanded

Ten held her ground.

"No!" She yelled

She pulled of her mask and threw it on the floor.

"Do what you want to me, but I'm not leaving!" She yelled

"How did you even get here?" He said

"To make a long story short, I got a hold of Batman's Batarang. And since my family has a history of being in cozy terms with Paxton Powers, I knew Wayne-Powers tech when I saw it. No other company in Gotham is rich enough to produce weapons of that kind of metal. Once Batman went off the grid, I thought that I'd pay you a visit to see if you knew anything about your accomplice."

Wayne stared at her

"But Terry's more than just an accomplice to you, isn't he?"

He still didn't respond

"Honestly, I don't like him. I never did. But you wanna know why? Because he's the only person in my life who tells me the truth. It doesn't even surprise me that much that Terry's Batman. Both of them have always stood for something better than what half of Gotham stands for today. So I don't care if you throw me in jail or tell everyone who I am after the fact. I'm not leaving until I know where Batman is, and I have a way to save him. Have I made myself clear Mr. Wayne?"

Bruce kept looking at her blue eyes. Then he chuckled.

"You're a stupid kid…"

He turned around.

"Just like McGinnis." He finished

"I can save him, Wayne."

"No you can't. You think like a common criminal."

"Well I'm not. Not anymore. But you…you trained Terry, didn't you? You're the reason why he could become Batman."

She turned around and faced the cases.

"And the only way that could have happened is if you were Batman first." Melanie finished

She looked one case over

"So there was a…Batwoman?"

"Batgirl. A fact which is none of your business."

"How old was she when you trained her?"

"I didn't." He said blatantly "Not at first anyway. She showed up and started fighting with a batsuit on her own, regardless of what I had to say about it."

"So someone trained her before you?"

"Fighting ran in her family. But she had already decided that she didn't want to be like her dad."

"_Kind of like me…"_ Melanie thought.

"This was her own way of deviating from her family lineage. She looked up to Batman. She wanted to be me. But she became her own respected identity entirely."

"Even you respected her?"

"I never advocated what she did. But in a way, yes"

"Is she like that now?"

"You ask too many questions. It's time for you to get out" Bruce said.

"I already told you I'm not leaving. Not until you tell me where Terry's at."

"And I already told you that you wouldn't be able to free him if you tried. Dangerous people are holding him."

"I think I'd have an idea on how to defeat my own dad!" Melanie said

Bruce stared at her

"Not just him" he said. "There's another who's much stronger. We don't even really know the extent of his power. Going in there with your level of training could be suicide."

"Careful Wayne, you're starting to sound like you care about me."

Bruce ignored her

"What about you? If I lack the training so badly, then why don't you train me? The same way you trained Batman?"

Bruce looked her straight in the eye

"I don't train criminals" Bruce said

"Tell that to Terry…" She responded. For a moment, Bruce was speechless. "You're not the only one who Terry shared his life with." Melanie said

"You really are serious about wanting to save him."Bruce said

Melanie nodded

"Tell me about the supposed training you've already had" Bruce said

"Um, well. I don't really like to talk about it."

"Now."

Melanie looked at Mr. Wayne. His stern facial expression didn't move. She closed her eyes.

"Ever since I was six years old my life was different from everyone else's. My dad and mom were just starting to take the royal flush gang seriously, and the wanted me to as well. So they trained me to be a criminal. When other girls my age were playing with dolls, I was playing with plastic explosives. I was never allowed to have any friends or go out, not that I particularly wanted to since we were moving all the time. Only one thing mattered to them when it came to me. They wanted me to be the best Ten there ever was…"

A flashback was shown of her childhood. She was eight years old, and inside something that looked like an obstacle course. Motionless robots stood throughout it. Her dad and mom, both in Royal Flush Gang suits, watched her from a distance. Her dad pressed a button. The obstacle course was turned on, and the robots were activated. Melanie was supposed to manage to get to the very end without getting hit by the robot's lasers, or any of the various obstacles. She sprinted from the get go. A couple meters in front of her, there was a ditch, and a robot hiding in that ditch. The robot shot a real laser at her, but she was able to jump over safely. Immediately, she had to use the best of her agility to dodge the row of robots in front of her. They all shot. She ducked over some of them and jumped over others. Perfect. None of them hit her. She sprinted towards them and jumped on top of one of their heads, and sent it smashing towards the ground. The robots turned around and continued to fire at her. She climbed up a nearby pillar and stayed until she knew the robots were out of ammo. She reached into her pocket and threw out mini smoke bombs. They exploded around the robots, and they were temporarily blinded. She knocked them down one by one. When she was finished, she hopped across several more holes, and ran for the finish.

"Impressive" Her mother said

"Not yet" King said

Melanie made one miscalculation. One of the robots wasn't quite out of ammo. It still had one shot left. It shot it's last one towards Melanie. Unluckily for her, the robot's accuracy was amazing. It shot her across the side of her leg. She yelled. Blood began to ooze out. King stood up and walked over to the course. Melanie couldn't keep her balance for much longer, but barely managed to cross the end before falling over. She checked her wound as her dad turned off the obstacle course. Her dad walked up to her. Melanie began to sob in pain.

"Does it hurt?" King asked

Melanie slowly nodded her head.

"Ace…" King yelled. The giant robot, Ace, with a black ace symbol attached to his chest gave King something that looked like a gun with a card attached to the side. Without hesitating, King pointed it at her and shot it. A razor sharp playing card was lodged inside of her shoulder. Melanie screamed out even louder. She turned over and rolled on the ground in pain, screaming.

"You're weak Melanie. How could you have failed a simple course like that?" King said sternly. Jack tried to run up and help her, but his mom, Queen, held him back.

Melanie couldn't stop crying. "The Card! It hurts!"

"Who cares if it hurts? It's not gonna kill you! I shot it less than a centimeter away from your vital vein. A wounding shot. But it's a shot that someone as weak as you're turning out to be can never learn to make!"

Melanie continued to cry

"STOP CRYING!"

He grabbed her face and made her look at him.

"Look Melanie, you're weak. You've always been weak and you'll always be weak until you learn to step up your game. We're the Royal Flush Gang. Now I know to you, that means nothing. But to your mom, your brother and I, it's serious."

"It's…serious to me too"

"The only way that you'll ever be strong is if you're able to take my life. But until then…"

He threw her face down

"You're nothing but a loose end."

He watched her shake as she pulled the card out of her shoulder.

"Put her in again. And make it twice as hard." King looked at her. "You have one minute to compose yourself" He walked away. A twitching Melanie looked at her dad walk off.

"That kind of stuff happened all the time. Almost every day for the next three years I had a training session." Melanie had changed to her actual clothes now. Bruce was sipping a small mug of coffee.

"So do you feel guilty that you couldn't measure up to your father's standards?"

Melanie shook her head

"My anger outweighs my guilt."

Bruce smiled

"You remind me of someone.

"Who?"

"Let's go."

Bruce began to walk away

"Go where?"

"You're the one who asked for it. I'm going to give you training. Real training. As much as I can get to you until it's time for you to rescue Terry."

"So this is really happening. You're actually going to help me?"

"Don't get too excited kid. You'll be doing most of the work. Without that fancy suit of yours."

"About that suit. Can we make some modifications to it?"

"What's wrong with the Ten suit?"

"That's the thing. I can't stand looking at it anymore. I don't want to be Ten anymore."

"Who then?"

Melanie looked at him in the eye. Unlike most children he met, he had trouble reading this girl's thoughts. But there was one thing he was now sure of. Somehow, he knew exactly what she was going to say next…


	4. Persona

Batman's eyes slowly opened. His head was throbbing with pain. He examined the room he was in. For the first time in a while, he hadn't the slightest clue how he had gotten here. He tried to move his arms but couldn't. Once his sense of direction slowly came back, he was able to realize that he was wrists were over his head. He looked up to see what was holding him so tightly. A thick, cold steel bar ran from the ceiling down, and he was tied to it by the wrists and by the ankles. He pulled harder. He couldn't even budge.

"You can pull all you like, Batman. The steel bars won't disappear."

Batman looked in front of him. Willie walked forward from the shadows.

"And don't bother yelling. This building's coming down in a couple days, meaning no one will be anywhere near here to hear you squeal."

"Willie Watt. I'm glad the ghost of Hamilton High is still infatuated with me after all this time." Batman said sarcastically

"How could I forget?" Willie said. "Last time we met you tried to put a tranquilizer in my chest."

"You put a tree in mine!" Batman yelled

"I was just returning the favor"

"If I recall correctly you did that to yourself."

Willie didn't respond.

"Bygones?" Batman said with a smile

Willie looked amused. Then he frowned. Suddenly, Batman couldn't breathe.

"Shut up." Willie said. He began to slowly pace closer to Batman. "That was before I was able to properly control my powers. Now I can be much more precise. You may have gotten a streak of luck the first time around. But I can guarantee you. I never fall for the same trick twice. Never."

Batman was struggling for air. He was suddenly able to breathe again. Willie had mentally let go. Batman started breathing heavily.

"Watt, stop this now! Your power is dangerous!" Batman yelled while trying to collect his breath.

"You know that there are people out there who believe that you're not even human? Back in Juvi, I heard stupid rumors every day about how the Batman is some creature from another planet. But do you know what the absolute stupidest rumor was? That the Batman now is the same Batman from fifty years ago. But I know that can't be true."

Batman couldn't breathe again.

"It's depressing isn't it? Batman, the real Batman, would have found a way Houdini his way out of here by now. And the only power he had was the power of his mind. But as for you…all we do is shut the lights off in that special suit of yours…and you're just as useless as every other punk in Gotham. At my mercy."

Batman tried to say something, but nothing came out. Willie chuckled.

"Did you ever wonder what would happen to the citizens of Gotham if you weren't around to play savior? This city's based its entire confidence around a stupid bat. But when you put that bat back in its cage, the door's open for us to rule the town. Right? I mean, that's the standard answer you hear. But I can't help but wonder. Maybe it doesn't take the death of Batman to bring Gotham to its knees. Maybe all it takes is just a little doubt. If Gotham could just see how pathetic you look now, then fear would be this town's master. Just like it was before."

Willie prepared to make a final choke

"What are you doing?"

King walked up from behind him. Willie looked very annoyed. Batman was able to breathe again. This time, gasping much heavier than before.

"I'm doing what we're supposed to be doing! Getting rid of him!" Willie pointed at Batman.

"What we're supposed to be doing is waiting for our money to come in."

"You can't be serious about this!"

"Don't worry. No one's stupid enough to try to double cross us. They know we have you."

"But…"

"But nothing. We haven't heard any word from Gordon yet, but if she shows up and demands to see him in exchange for the money, then we need to show him to her alive. We wait for the money as planned, and then we get rid of him. You won't even have to lay a finger. Just stick to the plan, and we'll be fine. Now go keep watch with Sable. I don't trust you around him."

"Fine."

Willie angrily walked off, shoving King aside. King walked up to Batman.

"Don't get hopeful. I want you dead just as much as he does. But I see an extra profit in all of this and he doesn't. But either way Batman, you'll pay for splitting up my family."

"The only one who's responsible for splitting up your family is you" Batman answered back

"Now I see why Willie wants you gone so fast. You're even more annoying than before. But there's no need to rush."

King turned his back towards Batman. Suddenly, he started chuckling.

"What's so funny…"

"I'm sorry, I just find it ironic. It's weird isn't it? That you spend your life apparently "saving" so many people you don't even know. But now that we're in your time of need…"

King turned his head

"name one person who's coming to save you."

-x-

Melanie could hardly move. Her muscles were growing tired. She was dangling from an edge with only one arm. The other arm was at her side, but she couldn't use it to help her up because it was too busy supporting a sixty pound weight. Bruce Wayne was waiting at the top, leaning on his cane. Finally, Melanie used the little strength she could muster to pull herself over the ledge. Once she was over, she dropped the weight and breathed heavily. Her left wrist which had been holding the weight was killing her.

"That's three of six." Bruce said calmly "Your forth will be in forty five seconds

"I think I broke my wrist!"

"So?"

"I thought you said you were gonna give me real training!"

"I am…"

"This is the exact kind of thing that my dad would have me do years ago!" she yelled

"I said I would give you real training. I never said that it would be any easier than what you were doing before."

Melanie decided that it would be more worth her while to close her eyes and attempt catch her breath rather than argue. Bruce kept talking.

"You can't say that you want to be Batgirl when you have no idea how hard she worked to earn that persona. And for your information, this is different."

"Yeah, how?" Melanie spat back

"Running through a fake jungle dodging robots and bullets…that's not training. It's stupid. It teaches you nothing. All it does is attempt teach you the flawed criminal mindset: Run so I can get what I want now, think about the consequences later. But if you do that, for all you know, you could be running straight into a trap. The true solution is almost never what it appears to be, and your dad's training sessions had no way of portraying that. Not to mention that all the consequences will come back to bite you if you think like that. Now this. This teaches you endurance. When you're hanging off a ledge, you have a special opportunity. You have more time to think things through than ever before. For the few seconds it takes for you to get up, think not only of an attack strategy, but of the consequences that will come with that attack strategy.

Melanie stood up. She was already fed up with this guy. She was trying to ignore him.

Bruce smirked

"But of course if you don't like that exercise…."

He took her by surprise and hit her in the chest with his cane. Melanie fell off the cliff and screamed. Bruce quickly picked up a grapple gun and shot a rope around her ankle. He tied it to a firm post behind him.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" she yelled from below. Bruce looked over the edge. "YOU ALMOST HAVE KILLED ME!"

"Before you can fly in a batsuit, you need to know the balance and the weight of your own body. It's a lesson that McGinnis never got, and it almost got him killed! Think of this as a leg-up on him. Quite literally." He stood back up. "When your foot completely falls asleep, feel free to give me a ring."

He threw down a miniature signal. Melanie caught it as if her life depended on it.

"I'm going to a meeting. I'll be back in a little over two hours"

"What? I thought you said you'd get me down when my foot…"

"What I said was feel free. I never said I would do anything about it."

He walked out of sight.

"That old man's whacked out of his mind if he thinks I'm staying like this for two hours."

She looked down to the ground. She was pretty high above the ground. But there was also a thin dark blue pillar about halfway down to the far right. If could turn her fall into something of a leap, then she might be able reach the pillar and somehow break her fall with that. If she was successful, then she should be just fine when she hit the ground. The question was, how on earth would she break free from the thin black wire that she was hanging from. There was obviously nothing in the batcave that she could access. Nothing but that stupid beeper Wayne gave her. She examined it. Maybe she should just press the button on the beeper now. It was highly doubtful that Wayne would already be in the car, so maybe he would have sympathy and come back down for her.

"Wayne. Sympathy. Yeah right…" she said out loud

She took another look at the beeper. It was a small square with one button, and a blinker on top of it. She considered using the edge to cut herself down. She ran her finger across it. It was way too blunt to be used as anything of that nature.

"Now what?"

She thought through the few training exercises she already had to see if anything could help her now. She got very frustrated. What kind of training was this? What was the point of all of this anyway? She highly doubted that Bruce Wayne went through any sort of training before he became the first Batman. She slowly snapped herself out of it. If she kept annoying herself like this, she may never find a way down. For the third time, she looked at the transmitter. Then she suddenly remembered something Bruce said to her.

"The true solution is almost never what it appears to be…"

Could this apply to her now? She turned over the transmitter. There was nothing there except the cover to the battery pack. She opened the cover and dropped it on the ground. She was getting too lightheaded to hold anything else. Her entire leg was starting to fall asleep too. There was nothing. Just plain old triple A batteries. She did the only thing she could think to do, which was take the batteries out. For a second she hesitated.

"If I'm wrong, and I take the batteries out, then I can't beep him. And if that happens, knowing him, he may never decide come and get me."

She was tired of thinking. And tired of hanging. She took the batteries out and dropped them to the ground. Perfect! Absolutely nothing! Just as she was beginning to think of how long it would be before she passed out from lightheadedness, she saw something. A small hole right above where the top battery was. She pulled it closer to take a look. Then she held it back and tipped the transmitter upside down, and put her hand under it. A miniscule, silver blade fell out. She dropped the entire transmitter, and used the knife to cut the wire. It snapped almost instantly. It took her by surprise so much that she almost forgot what her plan for doing it was in the first place. She tried her best to hit the blue pillar. To her luck, she barely did. She grabbed onto it for half a second, and then fell down to the ground. She somehow managed to land on her feet, even though she could hardly feel them. She panted for a moment, and then heard clapping. It came from right behind her. She turned around, and to her surprise, Bruce was standing right there.

"How did…but…" Her head hurt too much to think.

"I hid it in there, but the only way that you would have been able to find it was if you gave up the simple solution."

Melanie pointed at him. She was furious

"I can't believe you! I didn't sign up for this. You can play your stupid games by yourself, because I'm out of here! You're out of your mind old man, you know that?"

She began to quickly walk towards the door

"If I wasn't, being Batman would have never worked."

She turned around

"And if you can't handle one exercise that tests your endurance and makes you think on your feet like that, then maybe Ten is the only name that will ever suit you after all."

She slowly turned around.

"Fine. I'll stay. So what do you have planned next? You gonna have me hang on top of an alligator pit now?"

"Well, okay. If that's what you want, but I was thinking more along the lines of combat training."

She looked up at him

"In uniform." He said

Melanie couldn't help but crack a smile. She nodded.

"Alright Mr. Wayne. Let's go"

-x-

Bruce and Melanie, both of whom were wearing gas masks, were standing in front of a giant table. Melanie's Ten suit was laying flat down on it.

"I have to warn you" Bruce said. "If you do this then this suit could define you."

"I've already been defined by this suit, Bruce. I can't change that. But the one thing I can change is who it defines me as."

She picked up the black paint spray gun and re-painted the black half of her suit. She then moved onto the white half. She watched as her past was being covered away. She stopped for a second before she reached the number "10." She took one last look before she painted over it.

-x-

The scene cut to the training simulation. Her suit was being covered in shadows. All that was visible were her black, suited legs. She fought off simulations of classic Batman villains such as Killer Croc, Two-Face and Black Mask.

-x—

The scene cut back to them in front of the table. They took off their gas masks.

"How's your wrist doing?" Bruce asked.

"It's still in pain from holding that heavy weight."

"Here's something I customized."

He dragged it out. It looked like an oversized wristwatch with a wire attached to the bottom of it.

"It's a Batarang launcher. You slip it on…"

He put it on his wrist.

"Aim and fire."

He pointed it towards the wall. A batarang folded out of it. When Wayne tugged on the wire, the Batarang launched out.

"Cool…" Melanie said.

"You can adjust the power on it. It's defaulted at 4, I wouldn't go above 8. Maximum is 10. Don't use it at that level. At that level, if it hits at the wrong spot, you can kill someone."

"Did you used to use it?"

"I thought I would need it in my old age, and McGinnis never needed it. So I suppose you can use it. You mind if it's red?"

"I think yellow would match the suit better."

-x-

Firefly flew towards Batgirl who was still covered in shadows. She flew up and Firefly chased her. Suddenly, she pointed the launcher at him and a Batarang flung out and hit him in the head. He hit the ground.

-x-

"Your suit was already equipped with radio technology. I'll adjust the frequency so that you can hear me and Batman through this."

"Okay."

"Next, we'll put in the wires so that you can fly like Terry does, and so that you can be as strong as he is…"

"Okay…"

"Now this."

He held out a chip.

"This is what will amplify your suit's strength. Terry has it in the wrist of his suit. I bet his kidnappers fried this, and that's the reason why all of his power is gone. I'll put yours somewhere else, but when you go get him, I need you to get this spare to him."

He brought out another chip

-x-

Bane ran for Batgirl. He smashed the ground and made a giant crack in it. She slid under his legs, flew up and kicked his face to the side. He tried to let in a couple more punches, but she dodged them. She punched him under the chin, and he was sent flying up.

-x-

"This yellow fabric is what will keep you up in the air. It's derived from a memory cloth."

It was attached to the suit. Melanie felt it with her hands.

"It seems really firm"

"If it's not, then you'll find yourself falling before you know what hit you."

He pulled out something else. It was a yellow belt and a yellow circle for the middle.

"This is going to be your utility belt. The middle circle is what you can use to accelerate your speed when flying."

"Can I turn invisible?"

He shook his head

"I can no longer use the camouflage feature. I used up most of the technology on Terry's suit, and the millions of dollars more it would have cost me to just have it lay around wasn't worth it."

"But I can still carry things in it."

"Smoke bombs, yellow and black Batarangs, you have it all."

Melanie looked at something else on the counter. It looked like some sort of dart gun

"What's that?"

Bruce looked at it

"A retired item. It's a tranquilizer dart. It's what we tried to use on Watt the first time he developed his powers, but we failed. Now, we'll have to think a lot more advanced than this if we're serious about wanting to stop him."

-x-

Newer villains, such as Spellbinder and Inque went for her. She tried to punch Inque, but Inque disfigured and appeared behind her. Spellbinder was also taking jabs at her, some of which were successful. Batgirl was laying on the ground looking up at her two foes. She pressed the button on her belt, and a booster rocket kicked in, and she slid backwards. She crossed her arms and shot out a blue batarang and a yellow batarang. The yellow one hit spellbinder in the face and the blue one electrocuted Inque.

-x-

"So what do you want your hood to look like?"

"Like hers"

"Just like hers?"

"Except we could keep my pretty blue eyes covered."

"Right…." Bruce said slowly. "And the symbol. You want it to be solid yellow right?"

"How about a yellow outline?"

"We'll see what we can do…"

-x-

Shriek hit the floor. His armor broke. Batgirl stepped out of the shadows, and now, for the first time, her suit was clearly visible. She was now facing Blight. He shot out two beams from his arms. She somersaulted over it and prepared to take him down. But then she stopped. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the last opponent. King. She stopped in her tracks.

Bruce yelled from behind a screen door into the microphone. "Move!"

Batgirl forgot about Blight and flew straight for King. She set the Batarang Launcher at 8 and shot a batarang at his face. Then she tackled him and then beat him to the ground.

"Melanie, that's enough!"

She had lost her defense. Next thing she knew she hit the ground. Blight shot her from behind. Blight stood over her and prepared for a killing shot. Then, he disappeared. Everything else disappeared. The simulation was over. Bruce got out of the room and walked over to her. She slowly got up and dusted off her suit. She pulled off her mask to get a better look. Bruce stood next to her.

"A near perfect performance."

It seemed that Bruce wasn't going to lecture her. There's a first time for everything.

"This is a really cool looking suit. I'm impressed."

Bruce nodded

"Where's he being held?" She asked

"I actually don't know. Barbra Gordon's the only one who does."

"The commissioner?"

"Get the information from her."

"How do I know she'll talk to me?"

"Don't worry. She will."

"Alright. Wish me luck."

She prepared to put on the mask.

"Melanie."

She turned around.

"Something tells me that your respect for Batman isn't your only motivation for wanting to save him. It's King, isn't it? Your dad."

"This is none of your business."

"Do you know what happens when people go out looking for revenge?"

She didn't respond

"They get it. Along with all of the remorse goes along with it."

"And I suppose you would know…" Melanie said sarcastically. She tried not to laugh.

"I do know. Because I used to fight for the same reasons as you. It never mattered whether I was fighting the Joker, Scarecrow or anyone else because the real battle was always with myself. Sure, I had wards working for me in and out all through my career as Batman, but I was working for someone too. And his name was vengeance. Don't let that be you. You'll regret it."

"Thanks for all your help Wayne…" She put on her mask. "But I can handle this by myself. And I can guarantee you that when I see him, he'll be as good as dead. "

She flew off. Bruce Wayne was left standing there to contemplate whether or not he had just made a big mistake.


	5. Mission

"Commissioner!" A well built guard yelled. He just ran into Barbra while she was walking down the hall of the police station. Another armed police officer was already escorting her down the hall.

"What is it?"

"We've gotten a report. There is a young man who claims to have enough money for the hostage case."

"How much?"

"Around six hundred dollars"

"These are serious people we're dealing with. It'll take a lot more than six hundred dollars to get Batman out alive. Tell him no and not to come back until he has a reasonable amount of cash."

The other police guard spoke.

"May speak for the majority of the police force here, Commisioner Gordon?"

Gordon stared at him.

"What is it?"

For a moment he hesitated before speaking. But soon, he spoke up.

"It's just that, we don't think that it's a sensible move on our part to be fulfilling the demands of these kidnappers. Not to mention that we think that it's out of character for you to be doing this."

The other guard was quick to back him up

"Here's what I think he's trying to say. We've broken up numerous typical hostage situations in the past, and we don't see how this one is any different. I think that we should get all of our available units and charge in there rather than advertise to the whole town that we're just as powerless in this situation as they are."

Barbra didn't speak for a moment. The guards became a little intimidated by her drawn out silence.

"I can't believe how foolish my own guards are. Good thing I don't pay you guys to think."

She began to walk away

"This is no typical hostage situation. And the moment you figure that out is the moment you…"

She stepped on something hard. She quickly took her foot off. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. A black and yellow batarang was just laying on the ground.

"you've gotta be kidding me…" she whispered. The two guards sprinted up to her.

"Commisioner! Step back!"

She did as they said. One of them picked it up and held it up and tried to inspect it.

"It looks like…Batman's" The first police guard announced. "But I thought he was…"

Suddenly, white gas sprayed out of it. It quickly gassed the two guards in the face. They began coughing violently. Barbra immediately covered her face with her jacket and stepped back. The officer who was holding it threw it down and sounded the alarm on his belt.

"Get back to your office commissioner!"

He pulled out his radio transmitter.

"Code seven! I repeat, a code seven! An unidentified trespasser has…"

He was trying his best to fight off the coughs and speak clearly, but it didn't do much good. He dropped his radio, knelt on the ground and passed out. The other guard fell down seconds after him. Barbra firmly covered her nose and mouth with the collar of her jacket. She turned around and ran. The entire building soon filled with a resonant alarm. Police officers began searching every inch of the building. Barbra went straight for her room, on the lookout for anything suspicious. She pulled out a small gun from inside her jacket as she quickly entered her office and locked the door behind her. She slowly looked around the room and did her best to listen for any movement under the alarm. She felt a breeze go behind her. She quickly turned around and noticed that it was just the open window. She took her eyes off of it, and just to be cautious, she loaded the gun. After a brief moment, she dropped it.

"Wait a minute…" she said quietly. She had just realized something. And this realization meant that the worst came to the worst. The trespasser had to have been in her room. Why? Because in her many years of working for the police, there was one thing that she never did. She never left the window open.

She heard a smash behind her. The alarm in her room suddenly stopped. She turned around and shot the gun once. When she quickly looked down, she could see the same type of batarang from before on the ground, and what remained of her overhead alarm under it. Barbra picked it up, making sure to keep a distance between the batarang and her face. She stood still for a moment and then unexpectedly spun around and threw it. Batgirl caught it with one hand. She was standing in front of the window.

"Nice aim." Batgirl said

Barbra didn't know what to say. Or for that matter, what to think. Batgirl put it back in her utility belt and began pacing towards the commissioner. Barbra took out her gun and prepared to shoot her.

"Why don't you put that away?"

"Who are you?" Barbra demanded

"You can call me Batgirl."

"You're not Batgirl" Barbra said in disgust

"And what makes you so sure about that?"

"Trust me, I know"

Batgirl pressed the center of her belt. The turbo charge kicked in, and she quickly flew over towards Gordon. Barbra tried to shoot her, but Batgirl had anticipated that she would try that. She easily dodged it and grabbed a hold of the commissioner's wrist. She snatched the gun from her and threw it out the window.

"Now that that's out of the way…"

The Commissioner smiled

"I can't believe you. You can't stand the thought of getting shot by an old lady like me, so you choose to overpower me and throw the scary gun out the window. You're coming across as a pretty lousy Batgirl if you ask me. The real Batgirl would be ashamed of you"

"I could say the same thing about you. You can't stand the risk of losing to a couple of kidnappers, so you choose to make deals with terrorists just to keep your "Perfect Arrest" badge polished. You're coming across as a pretty lousy commissioner. If you ask me of course.

Commissioner Gordon became angry.

"Your father would be ashamed of you"

Batgirl let go.

"What do you want from me?" Barbra asked.

"Batman's location."

"If I gave you that, then you would get yourself killed. I don't care who you say you are."

"I know what I'm up against. And I am going to bring him back. I'm the only one who can do that, I need you to understand that."

"I have done my homework on these guys, alright kid? And trust me, they are not people who will be intimidated by some amateur in a costume. Sure, if Batman flies in somewhere, he's built himself a reputation. And as much as we hate to admit it down here, people fear him more than they fear us. Half of the time, when he shows up, the criminals drop their weapons and quit right off the bat. But you? No one's recognizes you, no one respects you. And no one's gonna think twice before they shoot you in the chest."

"I understand that, but I am by no means an amateur. I have the training, I have the skills, now all I need is the information."

Gordon did not respond

"I can very well be the only person who can bring him back safely. I would not be standing here right now if there was anyone else who could help me do that."

A guard with a flashlight who was searching the outside perimeter of the building flashed over the gun. It took him a while to process, but soon, he realized that the gun had to have come from Gordon's office. He yelled into in receiver.

"All units, redirect yourselves to Gordon's office immediately! I repeat, all units to Commissioner Gordon's office now!"

The two of them could hear the footsteps climbing towards them. Batgirl waited for an answer.

"You understand that if I give you the address, and you fail…Batman dies, you die, and I'm left to die either by the kidnappers immediately or in jail after I'm accused of sending a non-police officer into a brutal hostage situation. You understand that don't you?"

"I won't fail"

Gordon hesitated. She mumbled the words.

"250 62nd Street."

Batgirl jumped onto the windowsill.

"But in case I do. I want you to know that you're wrong about something. I do have a reputation…"

Barbra was confused

"Because you gave it to me."

Barbra's eyes widened.

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"You're not the only one who's done her homework. Wish me luck Commissioner."

Batgirl jumped off and flew away. Two seconds later the armed guards came bursting into the room. One of them saw the broken alarm on the ground grabbed the Commissioner by the shoulder.

"What happened? Was the trespasser here?"

"No. She must have left before I got here."

She turned her head

"Forget the search. The nut's obviously gone. We have better things to be worrying about. Let's move."

She left the room. One of the guards closed the window and hung the drapes. The lights turned off.

-x-

Willie and Sable were on the rooftop watching intently for a police car. After a while of pacing up and down, Willie turned around and went through the door that led back inside. Two tall rooftops over, Batgirl was squatting down, holding a pair of electronic binoculars. She could see only Sable now somewhat clearly.

"There's no way I'm getting in there without a distraction."

She zoomed the binoculars in, and scanned the outside of the building for something she could use. Nothing. She moved her view a little higher. She could now see the electric power transmission lines that stood right behind the building. She put the binoculars down and stood straight. This was a gamble, but hopefully it would turn out right. She stepped to the very edge of the rooftop and pointed her Batarang Launcher. Instead of aiming for Sable or the actual building, she shot a black and blue batarang towards the power line. The batarang flew right over it.

She swore under her breath. She aimed and tried again.

This time, it hit the power line, spun around for a second, and then dangled on. Perfect. She did it a couple more times, and to her relief, it worked.

-x-

Willie barged into the room with King and Batman.

"You had better watch your temper..." King said without making eye contact with him.

"I've done enough watching all night. And still no word on anything. They're not coming, so finish this already!"

"Will you just wait?"

"No! I'm tired of waiting!" Willie shouted

They began a heated argument.

"Batman." He had no idea where the voice was coming from. He looked at King and Willie, and neither of them seemed to notice at all.

"Who said that?" said quietly

"What floor are you on?" The female voice said. There was a lot of static in the background.

"Who is this?" He whispered

"If you wanna play 50 questions with me then I recommend that we do it at a time when you're not seconds away from death. You gonna tell me where you are or not?"

"I think I'm on the first floor. There's a window to my left but I can't get to it.

"Got it. I suggest you close your eyes."

"What the heck?" Batman thought. The voice sounded somewhat familiar to him, but he had no way of telling who it belonged to.

-x-

Batgirl turned off the radio. She pointed one last batarang and hit the wire. She reached into her utility belt and held up a small remote. The remote was very simple. It had one blinker and had one dial in the center. The blinker flashed a green light. It was a success. The batarangs had synchronized with the electricity in the power lines.

"Lights out."

She rolled it counter-clockwise.

-x-

"It's only been a couple of hours, you need to give this more time."

"More time to do what? To let him escape?" Willie yelled

"In a game of cards, rushing gets you nowhere. You have to plan each move carefully" King said

"For goodness sake, this isn't a game of cards!"

"The point is that he's not going anywhere. And even if he tries, we have an ace in the hole."

King pulled out a small cylinder that had one single red button on top. He rested his thumb on the button

"Remember?"

"Of course I remember."

The cylinder flew out of his hand. Willie caught it.

"It was my idea."

"Then calm down! He's worthless now."

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. Both of them stood there for a moment, and then looked up at the lights. For a moment, they were both speechless.

"What's going on up there…" Willie whispered.

Out of nowhere, the lights shined very bright and the light bulbs exploded. It temporarily blinded the two of them.

Batman seized the moment to try to take the chains that were fastening his wrists and ankles to the pole off. It didn't work in time. The first thing that Willie did was charge up to Batman and grab him by the chest. King ran over to the window and looked outside. There was nothing there.

"What did you do?" Willie demanded

"You have three guesses" Batman teased

Willie held out a fist

"Come on! We have to check it out!" King yelled

King ran for the door and opened it. Willie stared at Batman

"For crying out loud, the Bat will keep til we get back. I need you up there in case there's a threat"

"Fine." He let go and ran out the door.

Batgirl watched as Willie ran back onto the rooftop.

"Guess that's my cue." She said

She opened the suit's wings and prepared to take off. Just then, she saw King run onto the roof behind him. She froze. Mixed, but all bitter emotions ran through her body. This was her chance. She put away the wings and stared at her Batarang Launcher. She could kill him now and be done with it. He wouldn't even know what hit him. After a few seconds, she decided against it.

"If I tried it now the other two might interfere."

She put the wings back on.

"I'll save Batman first. Then I'll deal with you."

She jumped off the ledge.

King and Willie looked around. They could see no one.

"It's not just us. The whole city's gone black." King said.

"I refuse to believe that this is some coincidence." Willie said

"It's not." Sable replied. "Look."

She pointed behind the building, towards the power lines. Willie closed his eyes and levitated himself off of the ground. He slowly floated over to where she pointed. He couldn't believe his eyes. He picked up one of the six batarangs that were hanging from the lines. He scanned it, and then crushed it in his hand in fury. The batarang left several deep cuts in his hand, and blood ran down his fist, but he didn't care. He floated back to the rooftop.

"Bad news?" King asked

Willie handed him the small cylinder.

"Plan B is now in effect."

King took it. He nodded his head.

"Okay."

King went through the door.

"Plan B already? Why, what's going on?" Sable asked

"I think Batman might have company."

-x-

Batgirl tried her best to fly where she couldn't be seen. As much as she hated to admit it, her training with Wayne helped her to keep her balance. At least, it helped a little bit. She got shaky at certain points, but overall, she made it to the one of the windows quite easily. She grabbed on and tried to look inside. Unfortunately, there was a drape covering the window from the inside.

"Well that's just great." She said out loud. Although, she couldn't say that she was surprised. They would have been pretty lousy kidnappers if they left him in plain sight.

She looked up to the top of the building. It wouldn't be long before the others realized that no one was out there and came back to watch Batman. And that was provided that they wouldn't decide to just kill him on the spot instead. She didn't have much of a choice. She was going to have to break in here and hope that it was close enough to the right room. It was time for the Ten in her to go to work. She took out a laser cutter from her utility belt and cut the top corners of the window. She didn't want to cut a hole or just smash the window because she didn't want to risk sounding an alarm. Not that there was any electricity in the building, or for that matter, the entire block now, but even so it didn't hurt to be cautious. Be quick but cautious, just like in a game of cards. That was the first rule of the royal flush gang. It made her sick to even think about it, but she needed it to help her now. She then lodged a batarang into one of the corners to pry the window open a little bit, and then used her fingers to push it out from the inside. The window opened. She hopped in and looked around. She had gotten very lucky. This was the exact room he was in. She ran up behind him and grabbed a hold of the chains.

"Who's there?" He yelled

"Would you chill out, I'm trying to take these off"

He vaguely recognized the voice again, but still couldn't match it to a face.

"You're the one whose voice I heard on the radio."

"duh. Stay still."

She used the laser cutters and took the chains on his wrists off. Once they were completely off, Batman threw them across the room. Now all he had left on his arm was that small robotic device that Sable spat at him. It was what took away his powers. Batgirl walked in front of him and took a look at it. Batman quickly moved it away

"Who the heck are you supposed to be? And how did you get on my radio?"

"Batgirl, now would you let me see your arm?"

Batman laughed. "I never asked for any Batgirl to be my sidekick."

"Good, then that makes two of you."

She used the laser cutter to take the chains off of his ankles. Immediately, Batman began walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Away from you. I have no idea who you are or if you were sent here to kill me."

"Don't be stupid. If I was sent here to kill you then why would I have cut you loose? It would have been a lot easier to kill you if you couldn't fight back, right? Anyway, neither of us have time for this so let's get out of here now."

"Thanks 'Batgirl', but I don't need you to get me out of here."

"Yeah, because you've been doing such a great job so far, right?"

"I was working on it…"

"Working on getting yourself killed, maybe. With your suit turned off like that, no one could have tracked you. Not even Wayne."

For a moment, Batman was speechless. He had to play dumb.

"Who's Wayne?"

"The guy you work for, Terry."

"I'm not…"

Batgirl walked up to him and stood there for a second. She quickly took off his mask.

"Yeah. You look like Terry to me."

Terry quickly grabbed it and put it back on.

"Surprised it didn't gas me? It's all in the thumb placement really…"

Batman was furious.

"Just who the heck are you really, anyway?" Batman whispered

After a moment, Batgirl finally spoke

"As far as you're concerned. I'm no one."

She ripped the device off of his arm.

"This thing burnt out a chip in your wrist. Wayne wanted me to give you this."

She took out the replacement chip

"It'll turn the power back on in your suit. I was only able to communicate with you because your earpiece is a radio that runs on a weak battery."

Batman slowly took the chip from her

"I don't get it. If the radio worked this whole time then why couldn't…" He hesitated before mentioning a name. Then he decided that there was no point in hiding it anymore. "Wayne…have talked to me on it this whole time?"

"Because without a working tracker, he had no idea where to pinpoint a signal. And plus, your radio's low on battery. The result of working on its own, trying to find a signal for however long you've been without power. I'd shut it off and let the chip recharge it."

Batman slowly complied. He turned off the radio. She held out the device that was grabbing onto his arm only seconds before.

"If you want to destroy this thing, be my guest."

"I think taking it back to Wayne for investigation might be smarter. Maybe he can use it to get me a chip that doesn't burn out quite so easily."

Batman took it and placed it in his utility belt. He took a look at Batgirl. Even her face looked very familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly who she reminded him of. Could it be possible that he already knew her from before?

"Come on. Let's go." Batgirl said.

She went to go open the window. Everything else happened too fast. Sable charged into the room and immediately shot Batgirl with a powerful taser. It hit her in the back, and sent her crashing towards the ground. Batman tried to run over and help her out, but soon a fist met his face. Willie came in right behind her. Willie picked him up mentally and threw him across the room. Batman smashed into the wall, sending a sharp pain through his entire body. He hit the ground. Sable grabbed Batgirl by the neck and held her over the window, prepared to drop her. She took out a gun and pointed it at her head.

"No sudden moves, okay?" Sable teased. "I can pull this trigger faster than you can say…oops."

Batman tried to quickly insert the chip into his wrist. He managed to open the fabric and pull out the old chip. He dropped it on the ground. He picked up the new chip. Suddenly, his hand began to shake.

"No!" He yelled. The chip flew out of his hand. Willie took it and examined it.

"I don't think so."

Willie sent it out the window. It flew right past Sable and Batgirl, and then dropped to the ground outside.

Batman looked up and Willie. With a smile on his face, he crossed his arms.

"This time, King isn't here to stop me." Watt closed his eyes.

Batman felt a small earthquake. He looked out the window. Different types of trees and rocks levitated all around the building.

Batgirl stared at him. This man was unlike anyone she had seen before. Maybe Barbra and Bruce were right. She didn't know what she was getting herself into.

"Since you like being Batman so much…"

Willie opened his eyes

"Let's see you fight like him."


	6. Combat

Batman looked up and Willie. With a smile on his face, he crossed his arms.

"This time, King isn't here to stop me." Watt closed his eyes.

Batman felt a small earthquake. He looked out the window. Different types of trees and rocks levitated all around the building.

Batgirl stared at him. This man was unlilke anyone she had seen before. Maybe Barbra and Bruce were right. She didn't know what she was getting herself into.

"Since you like being Batman so much…"

Willie opened his eyes

"Let's see you fight like him."

It began to rain.

Batgirl had only a few seconds to formulate an idea.

Batman tried to stand up

"You're dead!" Willie shouted. He gestured towards Batman.

At first, it looked like nothing happened. Then Batgirl looked out the window. She saw a massive boulder soar towards her. She quickly hit Sable with her elbow and knelt down. The boulder shattered the window and the surrounding wall. The rock flew right over her. However, in a fraction of a second, Sable had Batgirl in a tight headlock and had the gun pointed to her face. She loaded it.

"You really think I wasn't prepared for that?" Sable asked

"No. Just not for this."

Batgirl grabbed tightly onto Sable and quickly turned the dial on her utility belt. The turbo jets on Batgirl's suit kicked in, and to Sable's surprise, both of them were hurled out of the window.

Batman jumped out of the way, and his trailing leg missed the rock by less than an inch. The rock lifted off of the ground again, and flew straight towards Batman once more. This time, he tried to hop over it. But to his misfortune, he didn't make it all the way over. The rock smashed into the side of his shin and sent him tumbling towards the ground. He grabbed his leg in pain. He was getting angry with himself. Was he really this useless without the suit's powers? He quickly got up. It hurt to stand, but the fact that he could meant that nothing was too severely broken. Hopefully. In front of him, he could see the rock heading straight for him once more. This time, he dropped to the ground. The rock cleared over him. He felt like he was in a twisted game of cat and mouse. And unfortunately for him, he was the mouse.

"You're a coward, Watt!" he yelled. "Why don't you come over here and fight me without your powers?"

"As much as I would love to, Batman…" Watt started. Batman reached for a pocket in his utility belt. "I'd much rather not take any more chances."

Watt had grown much more powerful since the last time Batman fought him. He had better control of his powers than he ever did before. But no matter how strong Watt got, Batman forced himself to remember one thing. He was still human. Batman hoped he had reached for the right pocket. Right before the rock blocked his line of sight between him and Watt, he threw a grey sphere. Batman promptly shut his eyes and covered his ears. Watt took the bait like a hungry animal. He dropped the rock right before it hit Batman and blew up the sphere.

It was a flash bang.

Watt yelled as he was temporarily blinded. Batman leaped over the rock and grabbed Watt by the collar and punched him in the face twice. The third time he wound back, and suddenly lost control of his arm. Watt, who had a bloody lip smiled and opened his eyes.

"You're gonna have to do better than that batbrain"

He sent Batman hurtling towards the wall again. Except this time, he didn't risk letting go of him. Batman hit the wall, then the floor, and then hit the other side of the room. The pain batman felt was indescribable. He was no longer a mouse. He was a puppet.

-x-

Batgirl and Sable flew straight up once they left the window. Batgirl tried to grab a hold of the gun, but Sable kept punching her in the face. Sable looked down and waited for the right moment. Once they had just passed the roof of the building, Sable elbowed Batgirl in the gut. Batgirl let go of her go and Sable fell down to the roof and rolled. She immediately got up on her feet and tried to shoot Batgirl.

Batgirl managed to dodge all but one. A bullet scraped her arm. She grabbed her arm in pain as she landed on the ground. This gave her an immediate disadvantage. Sable had already started attacking her. She would just have to ignore the pain and deal with it later. They engaged in a fist fight. Sable tried to use her gun, but Batgirl kept stopping her. Sable managed hit Batgirl on the side of the head with her gun, which caused Batgirl to hit the ground. Batgirl quickly got up and tried to tackle her, but Sable was very fast. She used Batgirl's force against her, and managed to quickly trip her once again right before she hit her back with the gun. Sable dragged Batgirl back on her feet and punched her once more. She tried again, but this time, Batgirl grabbed a hold of her arm and flipped her over. Sable landed on her back. Batgirl tried to attack her, but Sable kicked her over the ledge. At first Batgirl grabbed on with two arms, but the ledge was too slippery from the rain and her wrist was still in pain. One of her arms quickly fell. The other one wouldn't be far behind. Her gunshot wound was on this arm, and it hurt now worse than ever. Sable loaded the gun once more and walked over to the ledge.

"It's over." Sable said

She was almost at the ledge

Batgirl was weak. She couldn't muster the strength to fly right now. She just couldn't. If she were shot just about anywhere it could all be over.

Batgirl suddenly remembered. She had been here before. In the Batcave with Bruce Wayne. This was the reason why her wrist was fractured in the first place. She had no time for this, but still, she couldn't stop herself from remembering.

"When you're hanging off a ledge, you have a special opportunity. You have more time to think things through than ever before. For the few seconds it takes for you to get up, think not only of an attack strategy, but of the consequences that will come with that attack strategy."

It was what Wayne said to her. Honestly, Wayne was the last person she wanted to be thinking about at this moment. But Lord knew she needed his advice now. She tried to take a deep breath and think. That gun was the only reason why Sable was a serious threat to her. If she could just get rid of it...

Batgirl continued on this train of thought. Sable was right over her, and would be ready to shoot at any moment. That meant that she wouldn't be paying as much attention to holding the gun firmly as she would be to finding her. But if she was too slow…

"Okay." Batgirl thought. "I got it."

"What's the matter? Can't climb up?" Sable teased on her way over. "I have to admit. You did put up a descent fight. It's a shame that we weren't able to get a look at your real face. But either way, I suppose you're strong for some idiot who thinks she's Batgirl."

"Now." Batgirl thought

She used all of her strength and did a stunt that she didn't even know was possible. She back flipped high over the ceiling and spread her wings out. The thunder boomed and the lightning showed her in an iconic position right before she released four smoke bombs. As if it were one fluid motion, she promptly pulled out her Batarang launcher. Sable looked up, but by then, it was too late. She had been blinded by the smoke, and before she kew what hit her, a level 6 batarang met Sable's hand that was holding the gun. She quickly dropped it and grabbed her hand in pain. Batgirl landed, picked up the gun and knocked Sable in the face as hard as she could. Sable flew towards the ledge and hit her head on it. She didn't move afterwards. Batgirl walked over and checked her pulse. Sable was unconscious. After staring at her for a long time, Batgirl dropped the gun and turned around. She was not satisfied.

-x-

Batman's body couldn't take much more of this.

"How does it feel when you're not in control anymore Batman?"

Willie couldn't have looked happier smashing Batman to the different corners of the room. Batman tried his best to hold onto his consciousness, but he could feel it slipping away from him. He just hoped that Willie would make one mistake.

"It's okay. You don't need to answer. I'll just assume that the feeling's to die for."

Willie sent him across the room once more. This was it. Now was Batman's chance. He grabbed onto a grappling hook in his pocket and shot it towards Willie. To his luck, he managed to drag himself over to him. Batman grabbed onto Willie as if his life depended on it.

"GET OFF!" Willie yelled.

Willie tried to shove him off with his hands. Batman wouldn't let go. Willie grabbed a hold of Batman's shoulders. He smashed both himself and Batman onto the ceiling and back to the floor again, hoping to budge him. They hit the ceiling once more. On their way down, Batman saw his chance. In mid air, he kicked Watt in the face and sent him to the ground. Batman landed on his feet. Willie rubbed his head. Batman smiled.

"Is that the best you've got…William?"

Willie yelled. He opened his arms out wide. Various rocks and parts of trees flew into the room through the window, and some began to puncture the brick wall. And now, all of them were heading straight for Batman. He prepared for the worst. He ducked under the first one, and barely dodged the second one. Batman tried ran towards Watt. For a second he slipped on his bad shin, but he was able to stand up fast enough. He pulled out a batarang and threw it at a branch that was heading for him. The batarang exploded and so did the branch. He had to shield himself from the shattered pieces. Batman saw four smaller rocks head for him. He jumped out of the way and managed to dodge them. Immediately he looked up and saw another gigantic branch head for him. This was ridiculous.

"What are you doing, Willie? You can kill us both!"

"I don't care!" He shouted

"What is it that you have against me, anyway?"

Suddenly everything stopped. The branch stopped inches in front of Batman's face. All the trees and rocks then dropped to the ground. Willie couldn't have looked more disgusted.

"What…do I have against you? Is that some kind of sick bat humor?"

Batman didn't respond. He very slowly reached for the back of his utility belt.

"You took everything from me! My home…my dignity…even my powers. It's because of you that I lost it all. It's because of you that half the people in jail and Arkham Asylum have lost it all! You don't even listen to our side of the story! All you do is fly in, and 'save the day'"

"I'm only trying to help the other people in Gotham…"

"Hello? Newsflash! No one in Gotham ever asked for your help! No one in Gotham ever asked for any Batman's help. But here you are, thinking that you're above us all. That your code of right and wrong supersedes everyone else's!"

Batman had almost reached for it.

"Tell me Batman."

His hand was on it.

"What gives you the right…to interfere with our fates?" Watt screamed. Now was his chance. Batman threw the flash bang. Watt stopped it in midair. But this time, he didn't blow it up. He had a look of disbelief on his face and dropped it gently on the ground. Suddenly, Batman couldn't breathe. Watt floated over to him.

"I can't believe you. You really thought that was going to work?"

Batman tried to gasp for breath

"Don't bother trying to breathe. You won't do it ever again."

Batman tried harder

"It's time for me to do Gotham the biggest favor that it's ever had done. What criminals always failed to do. What the police have always failed to do. I'm gonna remove the Batman for good. The sad thing is that after all this time, you still died a fool!"

Watt squeezed tighter

"I already told you! I never fall for the same trick twice! NEVER!"

Batman tried to speak.

"What?"

Watt let go. Batman softly said three words.

"You just did."

Batgirl came from behind and put Willie in a headlock. She took the tranquilizer out of her utility belt and jabbed it into his chest. Willie pushed her off. Batgirl hit the floor. He took the now empty tranquilizer gun out of his chest and stared at in anger.

"no…"

He said it louder.

"NO!"

He faced Batgirl. Batgirl felt her head hurt. Willie was trying to do whatever he could to kill her, but was now too heavily sedated to do it properly. As much as he fought it, he soon closed his eyes and collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Batman slowly stood up.

"Wayne told me that it would never work. But in the end I convinced him to let me bring it." Batgirl said

"What did you say to convince him?"

"It was a little something he taught me."

"I hope Sable didn't beat you up too badly"

"She's knocked out. But on a more important note."

She reached in her utility belt and gave him back his chip.

"I found this on the ground. It doesn't look broken."

He put it in. He tested out his wings and they activated automatically.

"Shway."

"You should get Watt to Commissioner Gordon fast, before he wakes up."

"How? They disabled the Batmobile right after they caught me. I don't even know where they kept it."

"You're the Batman. You figure it out."

"Right…"

He picked up Watt and turned around. He thought of asking her once again who she really was, but decided against it. He took off out the window.

After a moment of standing there, Batgirl was suddenly smashed from behind. Sable was standing there with the gun.

"You didn't forget about me, did you?"

Sable tried to hit her again, but Batgirl twisted her arm as hard as she could.

"Are you kidding?" Batgirl said "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up"

Sable yelled in pain. Then Batgirl violently grabbed her neck and slammed her face on the ground. She quickly dropped the gun.

Batgirl took the gun and held it herself. She pointed it at Sable.

"What the…" Sable said in disbelief.

"No more games Sable."

"You can't shoot that…Batman would never…"

"Do I look like Batman to you?"

"A little…" Sable tried to maintain some sarcasm in her voice.

"Maybe this'll help."

The first thing she did was shoot Sable in the arm. Sable howled in pain.

"An eye for an eye, right?"

Batgirl slowly took of her mask. Sable looked in disbelief.

"Melanie? What are you…."

Melanie put the gun in her pocket and set her Batarang Launcher to 8. She pointed it at Sable's forehead.

"Tell me where King is or you die."

"Why…why do you want to know? You came here to save Batman."

"I have my own reasons."

Sable didn't respond. She was genuinely afraid

She shouted

"Tell me now!"

"My gosh…" Sable whispered

"You're going to kill him, aren't you? Your own father."

A couple moments later, Melanie responded

"That man doesn't deserve to be called my father. He deserves to die."

Sable didn't respond

"If you don't talk now, then you'll be joining him."

"Melanie, please. Just calm down. Put down the weapon." Sable pleaded

"You have five seconds."

Batgirl was ready to release it.

"Plan B. He's doing a plan B."

"Which is…"

"We thought that there was a possibility that Batman might manage to escape, so we came up with another plan just in case something happened."

"WHAT PLAN?" Melanie demanded

"The device that I used to turn off Batman's suit. It's also a miniature explosive."

"What?" Melanie said in disbelief

"We assumed that Batman would have wanted to keep it so that whoever he worked for could make something that can resist it the next time. So we put a bomb in it that King has the detonator to."

Batgirl tried to use the radio to tell Batman. Then she remembered. The battery was dead. His radio was off. If she tried to leave and warn him, it might be too late.

"Tell me where King is now."

Sable closed her eyes as she said the name of the intersection.

Batgirl was about to shoot the batarang anyway, but didn't.

"You're not even worth it." She said. She hit her with the launcher and knocked her out.

She stood up.

"But you are, Dad. And no one's going to stop me from making you pay."

-x-

Commissioner Gordon was collecting paperwork from her office. She was about to leave again.

"Knock, Knock."

Batman was standing in her window, holding an unconscious Watt.

Gordon looked in disbelief.

"Batman? You escaped?"

"And here's your threat to prove it."

He tossed Watt on the ground in front of her.

"Don't worry. He'll be out for hours. You can call off the investigation. I'm okay now."

"Does Bruce know your safe?"

"Now that you mention it, I haven't even talked to the old guy."

He turned on his radio.

"Wayne, are you there?"

"Terry! You idiot!" Bruce yelled through the intercom

He sounded more angry than anything else.

"I miss ya too old man…" Batman teased

"Now's not the time for jokes."

"Would you chill out? Watt's with me, he's completely out."

Barbra interrupted

"What happened the other kidnappers?" She asked

"Batgirl took care of Sable. By the way, we need to talk about…"

"And King…" Bruce said firmly. Batman hesitated. He forgot all about him.

"is…still out there" Batman said

"Worse. You left Batgirl alone with him." Bruce said

"So what?" Batman said, "She'll catch him for me."

"She'll kill him! It was her main motivation for helping you in the first place."

"Wait. I'm not following"

"Are you really that dumb? Batgirl is Melanie Walker!"

It all slowly made sense. Batman couldn't have felt dumber. That was who Batgirl reminded him of! Batman didn't say a word.

"You need to stop her from doing something that she's going to regret for her entire life."

"What about you? Batgirl…she has a radio, right? So you can get a signal to her faster than me!"

"She blocked my transmission the moment after she left! I couldn't say a word to either of you."

"Why would she do that?" Batman asked

"Because she doesn't want me talking her down. You can still trace her, so you're her only hope now, Terry. Stop her before it's too late"

He hung up.

"What's going on?" Barbra asked.

"Get Watt to a more secure place. I've gotta go." Batman said. He took out his wings and flew off

"Batman!" Barbra yelled at him. He was gone. She picked up the phone and pressed a speed dial number.

"I need any and all available units to pursue Batman now. See where he's going. Hopefully he'll lead us to King."

She dropped the phone.


	7. Batgirl

King ran through the rain. He tried his best to stay in the shadows. He checked the time. 2:28 AM. In a couple minutes, his mission would be to hit the detonator and blow Batman to pieces. It was all he ever wanted to do. This was his moment. He stopped running and looked up at the intersection. Main Street and Grant Street. He was here. This intersection was relatively isolated, especially at this hour. But he wasn't taking any risks. He walked into an alleyway next to two medium sized buildings to avoid risk. He took it out of his pocket and held the detonator. His finger rested on the button.

Batgirl landed in the middle of the intersection. She looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. Her first thought was that Sable had lied to her, and she plotted out how she was going to go back and find her again. But then she saw an alleyway. She began to make walk a little to the right to get a better look. Then, she saw him. He was in plain view. He had his back turned. She could do it now. She pulled out the gun and examined it. But eventually, she dropped it on the ground in the middle of a puddle.

"A gun would be too quick. I want to see him suffer."

She walked into the alleyway. King heard footsteps. He turned around.

Batman flew as fast as he could to the intersection. Now would have been a great time to have the batmobile handy. He tried to get to Melanie on the radio. He turned it on

Batgirl held up the batarang launcher immediately.

"Drop the detonator."

King could have sworn that she sounded an awful lot like…

"Who are you?" King asked

"Melanie!" She heard Terry's voice on the radio.

"So you found out…" She said

"Where are you?" He demanded

"This is none of your business Batman. Go away."

King knew it now. It wasn't just her voice. The way she moved, the way she behaved. He was facing none other than his own daughter.

"Melanie?" King said softly. "What happened to you?"

"DROP THE DETONATOR!" She screamed

"Okay. Okay. I'll do it. Look…"

He slowly dropped it on the ground

"Melanie…we need to talk…about our family. About everything." King said

Batgirl looked at the detonator on the ground. She then pointed the batarang launcher at King again. He jumped in shock.

"What are you doing?" He asked

"What needs to be done…" She said slowly. "You deserve to die, Dad. I'm going to give this world what it needs."

"Melanie! Listen to me!" Batman came through on her radio again. He was getting closer to the actual location.

"If you kill him…you'll be no better than he is!"

"Does it matter? I never had a choice to begin with. And it's his fault." Batgirl said.

She turned the dial to 10.

"Just because you're his child doesn't mean you have to follow in his footsteps. He's already going to jail. Just let the police do their job!" Batman pleaded

"How about you let me do my job, Terry? You wouldn't even dare try to justify him if you had any idea what he put me through! It's his fault, Terry. He never gave me a proper childhood! He never gave me a choice, he took it away from me!"

Her finger was on the release button

"And now I'm going to take away his!" She yelled

"We always have a choice Melanie!"Batman yelled

"Melanie. Please. Don't…" King pleaded. "I'm sorry, I was a bad father, but we can talk it out…please"

"Yeah? And how would you know that?" Batgirl said sarcastically

At first, Batman didn't know what to say. Then he said the only thing he could.

"Because I killed my own father!" Batman yelled

This shocked her for a little bit.

"My father warned me not to let my anger control me, not to reach for power that wasn't mine, but I didn't listen. And because of that, he's gone. I had a choice whether to leave my house the night he was murdered out of anger, or to just listen to him and stay. And I left. I made the wrong choice. Not a day goes by in my life when I wish I couldn't have taken back what I did. We always have a choice, Melanie. And I don't want to see you make the wrong choice now." Batman said

Out of what seemed to be sheer coincidence, Jack happened to be walking by. He stepped on the gun that was in the middle of the puddle. He looked down and picked it up.

"What the…" he whispered

He then looked to the side and saw his dad and Batgirl. It took him a moment to get over the initial shock. Neither of them were able to see him.

"You just don't get it Terry!" Batgirl yelled. "He destroyed our family! He's the reason why I was never allowed to have one real friend in my life! The world would be a better place without people like him! All people like him ever do is hurt others!"

Batman finally made it. He landed on the roof of the adjacent building and was looking down at them. He pulled out a batarang ready to stop her. But then he hesitated.

"Especially you…" he muttered. He began to hold onto the batarang less firmly.

Bruce was also listening from Batman's end.

"Terry, you have the batarang in your hand so just stop her now!" He yelled

Batman didn't say anything for a moment.

"I hurt you too, didn't I?"

"That's putting it nicely, yeah." She said sarcastically

"No one starts out wanting to hurt anyone. They just do what seems right to them. But you never got a chance because you didn't get a real lesson on right and wrong. And you've paid the price for it. You've spent your whole life feeling like you were alone." He said.

"Terry, stop this nonsense!" Bruce yelled.

"C'mon…" Jack whispered. "Kill him. Do it.."

His hand shook on the gun

"The last thing I ever wanted to do was to hurt you, Melanie. So if this is really what you need to do to find yourself…" He dropped the batarang on the ground. "Then go ahead and take the shot…"

"TERRY NO!" Bruce shouted

Batgirl's arm trembled as she held the 10 dial and prepared to shoot him. She stood still for a while. King had his hands up and didn't move. He was shaking in fear too.

"DO IT!" Jack yelled. He shot a bullet by accident.

"Terry, under you!" Bruce yelled

Batman saw the bullet head straight for Batgirl's back. He jumped off the ledge and immediately took out a batarang. He threw it in hopes of deflecting the speeding bullet. Batman tackled Jack to the ground, and to his sheer luck, the batarang deflected the bullet right on time. Batgirl shot the batarang. At one moment, King was standing, and the next moment, laying on his back. The entire place grew dead silent. Only the pouring rain could be heard.

Batman had handcuffed Jack. Batgirl walked up to a motionless King and knelt down.

"I'll deal with you later!" Batman said. He ran over to Batgirl. She looked at King's face.

"You once said…that the only way that I would ever be strong would be if one day I could grow up and take your life."

Unexpectedly, King quietly moaned and turned his head in pain. Batgirl half smiled. A batarang was revealed to be lodged in his shoulder.

"You were wrong" she whispered

She stood up.

"I shot him in the shoulder, Batman."

She turned her head

"It was exactly where he taught me."

Bruce closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief

"I guess the true solution is almost never what it appears to be."

The police soon swarmed the area. They all immediately held out their guns.

Batgirl raised her hands "Don't shoot!" she yelled. "I'm one of the good guys."

She looked over at Batman. He smiled and nodded. Batgirl smiled too.

-x-

"This is Kevin Carr reporting to you live as three of Batman's kidnappers from yesterday night's mayhem are now being transferred from the hospital into police custody."

Melanie, who had an arm cast, watched with a large crowd as the three of them were being escorted into a police van. First was King, then a helmeted Watt, and Sable, whose arm was wrapped an bandages. Sable tried to stop and yell on her way in.

"It's her! She's Batgirl! Right there!" She pointed at Melanie. The police officer took a look at the teenage girl in a cast.

"Yeah, right. And I'm the Easter bunny."

"No! I swear!"

"Come on…"

He pushed her into the van. They closed the door and drove off the van.

Kevin Carr kept reporting as Melanie walked away from the crowd. She went up a nearby hill and watched as the crowd was began dispersing, some people fighting to get one last shot in the camera.

"Batgirl Beyond."

She turned around. Terry walked up behind her, holding a newspaper.

"That's what all the papers have been calling you, at least."

She smiled

"Hey Terry."

She took the newspaper and skimmed it. The words "Batgirl Beyond" appeared in bold letters on the top

"I wonder where they came up with that. You could use a name like it too you know."

"Somehow Batman Beyond doesn't roll off the tongue as much."

"You'll be surprised."

She handed the paper back to him.

"You read it?"

"Not all of it. They don't know me so there's no point hearing what the reporters have to say about me."

Terry quickly remembered.

"Oh hey. I heard you got another job with Wayne."

"Yeah, I do."

"As Batgirl?"

"No." She said with a hint of annoyance. "As Melanie Walker. I'll be an associate 'gofer' for Wayne-Powers."

Terry couldn't help but smile

"We all had to start somewhere." Terry said

"Well, considering that this pays three times as much as my other job, I think it's somewhere I won't be complaining too much about."

"Wow." Terry said. "Well with that kinda money, you can pay off Jack's bail in no time. Not to mention all the medical bills you can handle now."

"Not to mention the new house…"

"What?" Terry asked

"I won't be living around here anymore. There are too many memories I want to leave behind here. Once I get Jack out in a couple days I'll be considering this my last move. Wayne paid off everything. Between you and me, though, he still annoys me. But I owe him a lot. "

"And of course, your job as Batgirl will come bring you back in town…"

Melaine smiled and shook her head

"No. I quit being Batgirl. Assuming that I was ever really Batgirl in the first place"

Terry looked extremely shocked

"What?" he said in disbelief

"Come on Terry. Wearing spandex, playing hero…it's…it's all an old life for me. It's the reason why I left the Royal Flush gang in the first place. I should leave saving Gotham to the professionals, being you, Wayne and the Commissioner."

"But you were great out there…"

"No. I lost my mind out there. The last thing I need is more stress in my life. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess…"

After a moment of silence, he held up the newspaper.

"You know, you really should read what they said in this. They're already calling you a hero." He paused. He put his hands in his pockets. "More than I can say for myself."

"What are you talking about?"

"Watt may have been crazy, but he sure had a point. Does throwing people in jail because I think what they're doing is wrong make me a hero, or just some jerk in a costume?"

"Well that's a stupid question. I thought you already knew the answer to that."

Terry looked up

"Bringing messed up people like me to their senses, that makes you a hero. Being a symbol of hope that everyone can look up to when they have nowhere else to turn, that makes you a hero."

Melanie cracked a smile

"And it's the right choices that you make, even when there's an easy way out. That makes you a hero."

"It's pretty disappointing…" Terry said.

He turned around and looked up at the sky

"As much as I hate to admit it I was warming up to the idea of having someone out there who I can relate to. Someone who can keep me in check."

Melanie didn't say anything for a second. Then she spoke up.

"Alright. We'll make a deal."

Terry turned his head

"You promise to never do to any other girl what you did to me, and to always keep up the good fight…and if you're ever in a tight position, gimme a call. And if I'm feeling up to it, I'll try not to make you look too bad out there. Do we have a deal?"

Terry nodded

"You do have my number right? Or did you throw that away with the note I gave you?"

"I…" Terry started. Honestly, he didn't know what he was going to say.

"It's alright…" Melanie said. "So. I guess…this is goodbye Terry."

She turned around and began to walk away. Terry dropped the newspaper. Melanie turned around and Terry hugged her. It was like a moment she didn't want to pass by. But still, it had to.

"Thanks for everything…" Terry said

Bruce's limo pulled up. They both quickly let go.

"Alright, I better head out before Bruce lectures me." She started walking away. "Dana's a lucky girl!" She yelled at him. "Don't ever let her forget that!"

Soon after she left, Bruce walked up next to Terry.

"Don't think that I didn't see that…" Bruce said.

"Oh please, I'm not the only one who should be embarrassed. What's all this about you giving her a house and a stable job? Don't tell me you're turning into an old softie."

"She reminds me of myself when I was just starting out. If she wasn't going to be Batgirl, the least I could give her was a leg up. She deserves it."

"So how did she find out anyway…"

They began walking in the other direction.

"It's a really long story you don't want to hear."

"Well as long as that story is, lemme tell you one thing."

"What?"

"If you give Matt the robin suit, I quit."


	8. Temporary Announcement

**Hey guys! This update won't be on here for long, but this is just to let the people who are subscribed to this story know that the sequel to this story, Batgirl Beyond 2: The Mystery of Ten is out, and should have frequent updates until the end of the story. **

**See you all there, and Merry Christmas!**


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